Staring Death Down
by BobTheHobo777
Summary: When things happen to all of Ryu's friends, save Bleu, he becomes extremely distressed. How far will he go to get his friends back?... Slight KattxRyu, might expand on that idea later on...
1. Hope Extinguished

Author's Note: …Erm…yeah…I don't own any part of Breath of Fire. Rather…tragedyish…this occurs 3 years after BoF2. Will likely get "happier" as plot moves on. Please R&R.

Ryu sat on his bed, his head bowed. Horrific news had arrived all throughout the day, and he was alone in trying to face it. …Well, that wasn't entirely true, but Niro didn't count for much. Ryu had shut himself in his room when the first letter came, but as Niro slid the letters through cracks in the door, he had to accept the facts.

All his friends…gone. They shouldn't have separated…The first letter he had received was one from a nature conservation group. It came while he was having breakfast, while chatting with Niro. A large and well-built man walked up to the house, set down his delivery, and walked off. Upon reading the parchment, Ryu was devastated. Apparently, his friend Spar had attempted to stop loggers from mowing down a forest. He had rallies the trees to help in the fight, and they had been fending off the loggers. After a day of fighting with nature, though, the men got impatient. They simply set fire to the trees, and burnt down the whole area. Spar was not seen exiting the forest, and it was near impossible for him to have survived.

Bow…Bow had gone on a hunting trip. Ryu had complete trust in his good friend's ability to defend himself, so he didn't go with him. That and the fact that Ryu had a broken arm when Bow had left for his trip. This letter came in the flock of three in the middle of the day, when Ryu was stretching his healed arm out. The sun was shining brightly, and Ryu was trying to get over Spar's death. It was delivered to his door by a young Grassrunner, whose shining eyes looked at Ryu with such adoration that Ryu could tell that he had heard of the Destined Child, who had struck down Deatheven years ago. He was accompanied by a much older Grassrunner, who looked stern and led him away after the letter was delivered. Bow's body had been salvaged from a new, re-instated colosseum, and the letter stated that the cadaver would be sent to him (Ryu) later. Supposedly, Bow had been wandering around that area, and, mistaking him for a beast, the colosseum workers had captured him. Upon finding out that he was intelligent, thye had a hard decision to make. To let him free and clear their conscience, or to keep him? They decided to keep him captive, as if let free, he would soil the reputation of the new arena. So they pitted him against various beasts. He had done quite well, but match after match without rest had led to an inevitable defeat. The letter commented, _"I used to watch those gladiator matches with glee, enjoying seeing beasts pit against each other with much bloodshed. But seeing one of my own out there just changed it…I understood that it was not right, but it was much too late to do anything about it…after he lost a match, I asked for his corpse, saying that I was family. They grudgingly gave it to me, having **some** conscience after all, and I decided to write this letter to you first. I am unable to deliver the letter myself at the moment, so have assigned my son and father to give this to you. When I get all the formalities sorted out, I will be able to legally send you Bow's body._

The other two were from Highfort and Windia. Sten had been in the middle of a war between two parts of their nation. He was the High General, and his friend Torubo was just a rank below him. Together, they had fought, and pushed the enemy forces back. But when Torubo disappeared, Sten was forced to promote a new officer to the rank of General. This new officer was really a spy sent by the other army. Sten was stabbed in the back when poison had been slipped into his drink. His army, spurred by their general's poisoned demise, found the spy and eliminated him, and fought on with renewed spirit. They had won the war, and now Highfort was very peaceful, but the damage had been done. Sten was also gone. The letter was from the princess, and was so tear-stained that it was hard to make out the actual message. Delivered by a trained Gonghead, and Ryu was tempted to attack it at first. After seeing that he had read the letter, it sped out the door and left.

The one from Windia horrified him. It was delivered by a maiden with silky white wings, who flashed him a shy smile after delivering the letter, before flying off. Though he could see that the smile was genuine, pain and sadness was vibrant in her eyes, which made him hesitate. In the end, his curiosity won, and he opened and read this next letter. It was even worse. After she had gone back to Windia and assumed the throne, Nina had had a good rule. But a horrible epidemic spread through the city. Nina herslef attempted to treat the victims, but in the end, she, too, caught the sickness. She did her best to fight it, but it was obvious that she would die. Because of this, she decided to make the best of her situation, and gave her life in order to rid her people of the sickness, sacrificing her soul to cure all. But after the ritual that allowed her to do so, there was no body left. She was gone forever, and the correct owner of the throne was being argued about. The letter included her final, dying words: _"I shall never forget my life. I have adventured all over the world, with the Destined One. He…truly made me feel complete. And now…now, I will gladly throw away my life for my people, for I have already done enough in life…"_

In the afternoon, as the sun was starting to dim, two more parchments containing bad news came in rapid succession. One was given to Ryu by a witch he did not recognize. After he received her package, she immediately Warped away, a grumpy look on her face. And…perhaps there was some angst in her expression, too…The reason for this became evident when he read the letter. Jean had not been doing well in politics lately. Soon after going home, his mother and father died within months of each other, seemingly of natural causes. When he started his rule, he was popular with his people at first, but they began to tire of his carefree manner, and, when a frog who claimed to be Jean's cousin, and therefore, royalty, stepped up with a more serious tone, he had a lot of support. The frogs of Simafort didn't care if his ties with the royal family were real; he seemed real enough for them. So eventually, they overthrew Jean, and the "cousin" took over the throne. His first act as the king was to execute Jean and his sister. His sister managed to escape while Jean fought with the frogs sent after them, but Jean himself did not make it. Petape hid from the palace and lived with the witch, Nimufu, until the "cousin" was revealed for what he truly was: a demon, one of the few that had survived the purge when Deatheven was…"destroyed". The demon was soon impeached, and Petape assumed her position on the throne. Unfortunately, Jean could not be brought back just because things had been made right again…

Rand had run into trouble after living in his hometown for a while. The few St. Eva worshippers left had remembered him and his defiance. They organized themselves, and raided the village. The letter, delivered by a disgruntled, withering old man, said that Rand had fought bravely, but was outnumbered and died from multiple stab wounds. They tore down Farmtown, and, in a last despearte act to end their suffering, killed off their whole group in a fire.

But the worst news came at night, when the sun had gone down. Ryu was sitting on the porch at the tim, wondering how he would cope with all the losses. After the third or fourth letter (he had lost count), Bleu said that she was leaving, and would visit him every once in a while. She Warped away minutes after telling him that. As he sat there, pondering, he noticed a group of people coming towards him. Or, more accurately, Worens. His heart sunk. Surely not her! She had been on her way back to Township! These Worens just wanted to talk to him, him being the Destined One. But a voice in the back of his mind knew it was not true, that he was just persuading himself that she would be alive…he observed the group as they came nearer. They seemed to be circled around something, and, when they reached 5 feet of him, they set whatever they were carrying down, and moved into two parallel lines so Ryu could see. It was a coffin. His heart seemed to stop as he peered through the glass. It was Katt, still as beautiful as she always was and had been to him…but she lay there, unmoving. The color was drained from her face, and all the Worens looked anguished. But Ryu felt the worst of all. He didn't want to hear explanations, he didn't want to know what had happened. He ran up to his room and locked the door. He jumped onto his bed and lay there, sobbing.


	2. A New Solution

A/N: Uh. Is it Deathevn, Deathevan, or Deatheven? I'll just alternate spellings until I can get a definite answer.

Nessmk: Don't worry; it's…semi-happy…Ryu will get his love…unless I change my mind. But I think you'll like the scene I've written. So far, all I've asked have loved my romantic scene (if there's a pun in there, not intended).

Tabbiinsertnumbershere: Wow. I feel honored. shakes j00r hand Thanks for the compliments. Eh…I guess I might try my hand at original fiction later…likely it'll be about a werewolf. Anyways…didn't really proofread this chapter, so don't mind any mistakes. Too lazy to do it. Or rather, too sleepy. I'm probably gonna edit this a lot later…Enjoy.

Ryu lay in bed, his head teeming with thoughts. He couldn't lose them. He couldn't lose _her_. The Woren group had left. Or, at least, they had left the area in front of Niro's house. Now they were playing some game with Tolens over by the carpenter's house. But it mattered not to Ryu. He still didn't understand. He had gone over the letters carefully and methodically, and had noticed that the deaths had all occurred at different times. The most recent was Katt's, followed by Bow's, and so on. Ryu could only come to one conclusion: that someone had arranged for these letters to be delivered at the same time. But who? His first suspect(s) were the people who were still St. Eva supporters, waiting for the legendary Deathevan to return…the problem with this theory was that though news of Katt and Bow's deaths would have come at roughly the same time, it would have been hard to delay a Gonghead. There were so many in the world, after all…how would one know if it was being sent to Ryu? How could the Windians have been stopped from sending him a letter sooner? And the witch, bearing news of Jean? So it wasn't possible for it to have been the St. Eva believers…or could it?

Ryu shook his head. There weren't enough of them to do this, anyway. So who? Had Deathevn returned to power again, and arranged the deaths to bother Ryu? It was possible, but very unlikely. Ryu would have had news, and there would have at least been some monsters trying to force their way out from behind Township…_I shouldn't have let us drift apart_, he thought. _United, I'm sure that we could've overcome all those difficulties…_His thoughts were interrupted as someone knocked on the door.

"Go away," he shouted through the wood.

"Ryu…It's Bleu…" answered a sad voice.

"I don't want to hear about it." Ryu replied.

"Please…just let me in. I want to talk to you." Ryu considered this, and finally came to the conclusion that she _was_ his friend, after all, and could have something to say. Ryu reluctantly got up from his spot and unlatched the door. The sorceress walked in, a grim expression on her face. "Look...Ryu...I know that this must be a very...rough...time for you right now."

"You don't know the half of it," muttered Ryu under his breath.

If Bleu heard this, she ignored it. "Ryu, how old do you think I am?" she asked. Ryu looked into her face, and pondered this question for a moment. How old _was_ Bleu? "You should know by now that I surpass your age by centuries. How many loved ones and friends do you think I've seen die? How many adventures do you think I've had with friends, only to see them die while I live on?"

But her words couldn't get through to Ryu. He just sat there dully, nodding or saying "Yes," when ever she expected a response. Eventually, Bleu gave up, and went downstairs, leaving Ryu to his misery. Ryu sat there for what seemed like hours, just thinking. His sadness slowly left him. When it did, it was replaced by anger. His eyes lit up, and his mind raced again, in contrast to the almost-calm that had preceded this. His friends shouldn't have been taken from him! It wasn't their time! They should have lived much longer, not been killed at such early ages. Ryu made a fist, the anger channeling through him. There had to be someone who had done this. And not just any someone. His friends had been very efficient fighters by themselves. No doubt, it had to be a demon. A powerful one, at that. But how could he find this powerful demon, who had struck down the Destined Child's friends? Ryu was still considered a"teen", being 19, but he had gone through many trials that the most experienced had not gone through. He had vanquished demons left and right, before finally felling Deathevn. No one in their right mind would mess with the Destined Child by killing those dear to him. Only a desperate demon with nothing and no one else to turn to would...Ryu made up his mind. There was someone he had to talk to.

"Have you finally decided to eat something?" asked Bleu, seeing him come down the stairs.

Niro sighed. "Aww...and I was looking forward to eating the Roast all by mys-..." he cut off his sentence when Bleu gave him a dirty look.

"Come join us," Bleu offered. Ryu nodded dumbly, pulled up a chair, and sat down. He picked up a piece of Roast, slightly charboliled, and bit into it, chewing slowly. Bleu noticed this but decided not to comment. At least he was showing signs of life now. Niro hadn't paid attention to this at all, and had instead, grabbed a larger piece of meat and bit into it, eating ravenously.

Dinner was soon over, with Bleu saying that she hadn't an appetite that night. The three sat there in silence for a few minutes, Niro shuffling uneasily at the tension. Ryu's voice jolted them all out of their own thoughts. "Niro..." - the old man perked up at hearing his name - "do you remember Thujirk?"

"You mean the old man that came out of that hole to hell with you?" Niro asked, referring to the underground tunnel that led to the Dragon Clan's home. Niro was inwardly glad that Ryu hadn't raged at him or anything like that.

"Yes, that's the one. Is he still here?" asked Ryu.

"Hrm..." Niro thought. "Yes, I believe he's still here. He'd be in the 3rd house to the right." Ryu thanked him and left the house, followed by a curious Bleu.

"Ryu, why do you want to see this old man?" inquired Bleu.

"I need to talk to him about something," answered Ryu promptly. Further questioning yielded no better results, so Bleu waited for him to tell her when he flet the time was right, and she went back to her own room in Niro's house.

Thujirk sensed that something was wrong before Ryu arrived at his houjse, and he prepared himself to answer whatever Ryu had to ask. He was right to do this, for Ryu showed up shortly afterwards. The door burst open as Ryu walked in, a determined look on his face. Thujirk said, "Well, Ryu. I thought you might come to me. What do you need to know?" for Thujirk was known as one of the most knowledgeable men around. "

Ryu made a respectful bow, and asked, "Do you know of a spell that can contain the most powerful of demons?"

Thujirk hadn't expected _this_ question. He had expected Ryu to ask how his friends could be resurrected, and they obviously couldn't. Thujirk had a thoughtful look on his face as he considered his answer. "Well...to tell you the truth, I don't think I do. I may know someone else who can answer that for you, though. A couple of somebody elses. One thing that I can guarantee you, though, is that it will be extremely difficult…"

Ryu said stubbornly, "I don't care. Tell me."

Sighing, Thujirk said, "All right, all right. The first – and you might want to right these down – is Nureth. I have absolutely no idea where he is, but I can almost assure you that he's the only 'Thuren'. The next is named Thurlecroix. I'm not exactly sure where he is, either. The last is Kilujy. I know for a fact that he lives in Coursair."

"All right then," said Ryu to himself. "Coursair is rather close by, so I'll go visit it fir-"

"Wait," interrupted Thujirk. "There's something you ought to know first…"

"What?" asked Ryu impatiently.

"Well…" Thujirk started, looking down at the ground, "There's a bit of a problem…you see…you've killed all of their family."  
"Eh?" Ryu asked, his head snapping up at this accusation.

"They're all spawn of Deathevn," Thujirk said quickly, as if wanting to get that over with. Ryu stared into space temporarily as his body began to shook. "Oh, gods," muttered Thujirk, and he grabbed hold of Ryu, trying to hold him still. It didn't work, and Ryu's trembling got worse. Thujirk frantically searched his mind…the…mountains of…Mt…Fubi or something…then, as the image cleared, and Ryu shook even more, they disappeared from Township. A roaring could be heard far out in Mt. Fubi, and it was said that it would echo for a year.

A half hour or so later, a charred Thujirk and a disgruntled-looking Ryu reappeared in Township. Ryu left Thujirk to tend to his burns, and walked towards the exit, a steely glint in his eyes. Bleu saw this and rushed towards him. "Ryu-…" she started.

"I'm not going to listen. I'm leaving. Just need to pack a few things," he answered, continuing towards the Armory while not looking at Bleu.

"You have to listen, Ryu. They're all gone. Bow, Katt, Rand…you can't get them back."

Ryu shrugged this off and walked into the Armory, where Baretta was examining a large axe, its handle studded with diamonds.

"Baretta, I think I left my pack here. Could you-?"

Baretta nodded and walked into the back of the shop. Bleu knew that this was her last chance. "Ryu. You cannot bring people back from the dead. Don't try. Please don't."

Ryu said nothing, but kept his mouth shut. Baretta came back moments later, and handed Ryu his pack. He looked inside, said a quick "Thanks," and walked out of the store.

Giving up trying to persuade him to stop, Bleu followed him. With a sight, she announced, "I'm coming with you. So what's your plan?"

"I'm going to capture a demon." Ryu answered promptly.

Bleu gave him a moment, then asked, "Who?"

"Death."


	3. Woren Troubles

OOC: You know, it's really odd...I can't seem to write about BoF2 very well right now...Writer's Block is manifesting itself in a very bad way...So please don't think much if this chapter's quality is bad...Hey, at least I'm writing something again...Would y'all rather have me write longer chapters and take more time, or shorter chapters that are more frequent?

"D-Death?" Bleu stuttered, stopping in her tracks. She received a grunt from Ryu as a response, and assumed that was a "yes". "Ryu...You-You can't possibly..." her sentence went unfinished as she stared at the back of Ryu's head as he walked farther and farther away. "Ryu, the Woren!" Bleu finally managed to shout. "Talk to them and at least get your things sorted before you go!"

That made Ryu stop. He slowly turned around, the look on his face unreadable, and walked towards the hut where the Worens resided at a brisk pace. Relieved that she had gotten to Ryu before he had done something idiotic, like throw himself off a cliff just to meet Death, she followed him wordlessly.

Ryu kicked the door open, walking into the house. Or, to be more accurate, he kicked a hole through it. Splinters went flying, and Ryu cursed as he kicked outwards a second time, making the door slide off his boot. He was eyed by all the Worens as if he were drunk and violent, but none approached him. Finally, a tall, bulky one came up to Ryu. "Do you have business with us?" asked the tall and furry man.

Ryu replied, "Yes. Can you please get out?" Ryu was barely able to contain his impatience. He didn't want to be wasting his time trying to convince a group of Worens to leave.

The supposed leader said, "You must jest, Destined Child."

Ryu growled, "No, not jesting. What, am I supposed to know something?"

The leader's eyes widened. "Come with me. I will explain," he said, holding out a hand to signal that Ryu should follow him, as he took a step through the door. Ryu hesitated for just a moment, then shrugged at walked through the doorway after the Woren. "I am Lyon," said the Woren, after a while, as they took a walk around the village of Township. "I am sorry for my impertinence earlier. I assumed that Katt would have told you all about it before she...Perished."

Ryu stopped him at this. "What do you mean?" he queried. "How exactly did...She...die?" It even hurt to say her name...

Lyon took a while before talking again. "She...Well...We don't really know who. However, there were visible wounds all over her body and the edge of her staff was tinged with blood. We'd guess that she wouldn't maul herself and then bleed to death, so something...Or someone...Attacked her. Judging from her wounds no wild animal could have done it. No Woren or man could have done it, either. The clues say that magic did not cause her death. And one can guess that she probably got a hit in against her assassin before dying...I wonder...Do any of your dragon friends roam free?" Lyon asked, ending his thoughts.

Ryu gave him a ferocious glare. If looks could kill, that one would maim, torture, bind, choke, and cause, in general, great pain to the one on the receiving end. "No," Ryu said shortly.

"Anyway," said Lyon, continuing as if he hadn't noticed that he had just offended Ryu (and perhaps he had not), "The Worens are on bad terms with the Simafortians at the moment...Something about one of our fishermen fishing in their area. The nerve of them, accusing us of that! Those slimy, green, idiotic - Ah...But I'm straying off-topic. Back to the subject, there was a small battle against us Worens and those Simafortians. We all fought bravely, and beat them back. Don't listen to anything that they might tell you. But, would you believe it, they poisoned our commander! Now the Worens are mostly divided, half saying to replace our great general, who has seen us through many battles, and the other saying that we should keep him at his current position and that he will eventually recover on his own. I've seen him in person, and I know that he won't be able to get better on his own. If you noticed, there was a surprisingly large amount of Worens that volunteered to bring your friend's body to you...We all just want to get away from all the conflict, and perhaps we can seek out an antidote while we're out."

Ryu mulled this over as they completed their lap around the town and arrived back at the pub, the sun's last rays piercing through the clouds and coloring the town orange. When Bleu asked what Lyon had talked to him about, Ryu simply repeated Lyon's words, without adding any comment of his own. After watching Ryu for any reaction, Bleu elbowed Ryu lightly in the ribs. "Aren't you supposed to be a hero?" she asked. "Come on, let's help them."

Ryu shrugged. "Well, it's too late to do anything right now..."

Lyon seemed to have been waiting for Ryu to volunteer to help, for before Ryu finished his sentence, Lyon turned around and protested, "But the cave that should have the antidote is right by your town!" Seeing Ryu's expression, he added hastily, "I just got word from a scout. There's a cave nearby, and a there's a type of fruit that grows and best matures at night, at high altitudes. Supposedly, that'll cure our leader, and we'll be able to leave. Can you help us get it?"

Ryu groaned. He had been looking forward to being able to formulate a plan for what he would do to rescue his friends...And Katt...But now, he would have to help Lyon...Sometimes being the hero was a real pain.

The sun was almost down by the time Ryu approached the mountain where Lyon's fruit, supposedly, grew. It was a new mountain that had seemingly simply risen out of the earth, which made it suspicious, but as there had been no activity near it for a while, no one had given it a second thought. As Ryu climbed, grabbing onto ledges, precariously far above the ground, he wondered if Bleu was having a harder time than him. Looking beneath him, he got his answer. Bleu was hauling herself up easily, her snake lower half providing an oddly large amount of traction and keeping her steady. Disgruntled, Ryu continued to climb, attempting to ignore the pain in his shoulder when a small rock fell down upon it. There was a sudden cawing above, and Ryu looked up, trying to pinpoint the sound amidst the dark sky above, lit only by the crescent moon and a few stars. He soon found it. A group of ravens...They all had a malevolent look in their eyes, and Ryu had an odd premonition that they had been dispatched to attack him. His feeling was soon confirmed as several dive-bombed at Ryu. He swung his sword with one hand, holding on to a ledge that stuck out of the smooth rock with the other. "Geroffame!" yelled Ryu, afraid he would fall. The birds retreated, cowed by the silver blade Ryu was brandishing at them, and flew back into the sky. Ryu was able to take only a few steps upward before the next wave of ravens came down upon him. In this slow manner, it took hours to climb a mountain that was small enough to warrant only one hour or two to climb, Ryu's temper was tested when he noticed that the ravens were only attacking him, and that they were leaving Bleu alone. Eventually, though, the duo reached the top of the mountain, and came upon a small clearing. Ryu's breathing was fast, and he took small breaths, though that was not because of the hard climb up. The altitude, supposedly, was affecting him. But they weren't _that_ high up...Ryu's thoughts flickered to the ravens. "Bleu..." he murmured. "Get rid of the ravens..." Bleu raised her staff and gestured at the ravens. A moment later, a relatively small fireball careened out of the sky and rammed into at least three-fourths of their number. After emitting some very loud, raucous squawks, the ravens left Bleu and Ryu alone. Immediately, the weight that had been crushing down upon his chest, making it hard to breathe, disappeared. "Thanks," he muttered to Bleu.

"You're always welcome, Ryu," she replied. She was in an oddly happy mood, though Ryu suspected it was because she was trying to cheer him up. Well, it was a nice gesture.

The two walked towards the small tree that grew in the center of the clearing, surrounded by many other, even smaller trees. They plucked a few fruit from the largest tree, the one in the center, and turned to leave. "Bleu," Ryu started.

"Don't worry, Ryu. I know where we're going this time, so I can Warp us there,"said the sorceress in answer to his saying her name.

"No...It's not that. Look," said Ryu, pointing at something that was at the edge of the other side of the mountain. Bleu looked, and gasped. It was an arm, trying to pull itself up. Ryu quickly consulted his Dragon's Tear. Even at a distance, it judged the arm as an evil entity. He quickly showed it to Bleu. Bleu nodded, and Warped both of them to Township before the creature on the other side of the arm showed itself...

OOC: Poll: Would you rather see a happy ending, a happy ending with foreshadowing, or a tragic ending?


	4. Hellish Nightmare

OOC: M'kay. And another chapter. I was kinda kidding about the predicting thing, but 'sallright. Uh...Either the same people are reading my story over and over again, or people are reading and not reviewing, because I have waaay too many hits for 6 reviews. Anyway, flames are welcomed, as long as they're **constructive criticism.**

Nessmk: By foreshadowing, I mean that though it's a happy ending, with everyone being together again (or almost everyone, anyway...I feel like making Spar stay dead because I never liked him, but that wouldn't be very fair...), but you'll know that a villain still lurks out there, and is planning something. The tragic ending would have Ryu and Katt paired up, but they might not live that long...And the happy ending? All the villains are dead and gone, and everyone is happy. FYI, the soul part will probably happen. That's where Thuren comes in. Erm...In the second chapter, it should be Thuren instead of Nureth. Hmm. I And now, I shall say no more about that.

ValentineObsession: Glad to see that someone else is reading this story...Thanks for the positive comment...

"What was that?" Bleu asked shakily, as they appeared at the gates of Township.

Ryu chose to pause before answering. "I don't know. But it was definitely evil in origin. I've never seen my Dragon's Tear go so dark purple at a distance...Not even Deathevn..."

Neither could think of anything worse than Deathevn, so they walked in an awkward silence to the pub, both wondering what the creature could have been.

_I've never seen anything like that happen before,_ thought Ryu. _My Dragon's Tear has never shown anything as that evil before...That was definitely not any average monster. It had to have been a demon. But what sort of demon could be worse than its own creator. At a distance, Deathevn's color on the Dragon's Tear was a light violet, but that odd entity had a dark violet from an even farther distance. It's the closest I've seen the Dragon's Tear get to black._ Than another thought came to him. _That better not be one of the demons that knows how to bind Death...If it is, I don't think he and I will get along very well...At least I can try talking with Kilujy. I've heard of him. He's a demon stuck in the shape and form of an old man. He wouldn't be taking any mountain trips. But the other two...Thurlecroix. I've not heard that name before. Perhaps a smaller demon that just managed to get ahold of some information. And Thuren. He I know of. He was said to be the right hand man of -_ Ryu's thoughts were interrupted as he walked into a tree and fell backwards, stars spinning around his head. He saw Bleu looking at him questioningly, muttered, "I'm fine," and got back up, letting his thoughts wander again. _Thuren. Said to be the most powerful demon there was. Some claimed his power surpassed Deathevn. But he had never shown any interest in taking over the world. He had gone and done other things that were less suspicious..._

Meanwhile, Bleu was having her own thoughts about the situation. _Who was that man?_ She thought. _Really, though, he couldn't have been a mere man to have gotten a dark purple like that on the Dragon's Tear...He was obviously a demon. But what sort of demon? What sort of demon could score so low on the friendliness scale of the Dragon's Tear from a distance? Was Ryu keeping something a secret?_ Bleu heard a _thunk_ behind her and turned to see Ryu on the ground, looking dazed. He had walked into a tree. Bleu almost smiled, but knew better, and looked at Ryu questioningly.

He simply stated, "I'm fine," and got up. Their walk continued in silence until they reached the pub, where Lyon was waiting.

"Did you get it?" asked Lyon, looking rather excited.

Bleu nudged Ryu. He held out the bag they had put the fruit in. Lyon took a look in, and said, "Excellent! Many thanks to you, Destined Child. We could have gone up there ourselves, but...Erm...We would have had much more trouble than the Destined Child, who can fight off monsters with ease! The Worens shall always show gratitude towards you."

Ryu scowed, but Lyon didn't seem to notice, for he turned back to his group and started telling them the news. "He just didn't want to risk his own skin," hissed Ryu under his breath.

Bleu shrugged. "Some people are like that, Ryu. But you _did_ do these Worens a big favor. You should be proud of that. ...Katt would have liked you doing her race a favor."

Ryu didn't say anything to that. Instead, he said quietly, pointing his hand to the large, roomy house where Niro lived but kept apartments for them, "We should sleep. We leave tomorrow morning. Be ready."

Ryu slept horribly. He was constantly disturbed by a nightmare. He was in an endless, swirling vortex, and Katt's body was only a few steps in front of him...But no matter how much he ran, he couldn't reach it. No matter how much his heart ached, nothing happened. It was as if he was simply running in place. After a while, Katt's body disappeared, and it was replaced by a tall, sinister man, who was wearing a long robe that covered his whole body. The hood was over his head, so that was not visible either, as he bent his head. "So...You are Ryu, the Destined Child. You're not so tough now, are you?" asked the figure.

"What?" Ryu said, distracted. He could hear the voice so clearly...Almost as if it were-

"Real, Ryu. I am real. Too bad for you, your girlfriend's soul tried to contact you. I was barely able to stop her from talking to you, but now I've got her subdued. She'll be in for a punishment later..."

Ryu felt a rush of anger towards the man, and tried to draw his sword. But it wasn't there. He tried to punch at the man, but all his punches were stopped by an invisible barrier. "How are you-" Ryu started.

"Doing this? When a soul tries to contact someone, the dream induced by that is forever, until you're woken up by another living thing. If you starve, you won't wake up. It'll take another living being to wake you up. Not that I think that I can get rid of you this way...But I'll have you know that you're helpless here, in this realm."

"Who-" Ryu tried to say, but was interrupted again.

"Am I?" finished the man, an unseen sneer playing across his lips. "Why, I am your Woren friend's keeper! But I think that Thurlecroix will tell you all about me before long..."

"How...Why am I still sleeping? Katt's soul isn't here!" demanded Ryu.

"No need to yell. I can hear you perfectly well," said the man in an even tone. "As for your question...She's still around. She's just invisible. If you weren't restricted to where you are now, you could feel around and find her."

Ryu tested the demon's claim. It was true, for he could not move his feet at all, but, oddly, had a perfect balance. "You..." But his sentence went unsaid as something pulled at him, tugging him away from his dream.

The demon's voice echoed in his head as the scene faded. "We will meet again, Destined Child, and sooner than you think..."

Than Ryu was awaked, staring into the face of a sleepy-looking Niro. "Next time you have a nightmare," said Niro, pointing at Ryu as if he had done something wrong, "Stay in your bed. Don't get up and stomp around, waking a poor ol' innocent man like me up!"

After Niro left the room, Ryu thought about his dream as he garbed himself. If what the demon said was true...Than Katt was going to be in trouble for trying to contact him. He _had_ to hurry. He ran down the stairs at a fast pace, grabbed the Roast on the table for him, and started taking large, frantic bites out of it. "You'll want to eat slower, Ryu," said Niro, who was holding a second Roast over a fire. "Don't want an upset stomach, eh?" Bleu emerged from her room, yawning slightly, as Ryu finished devouring his Roast.

"Mornin', Ryu. Same to you, Niro," she said sleepily, picking up her own breakfast. Her drowsiness diminished when she saw the look on Ryu's face, and she also finished her breakfast quickly, ignoring Niro's protests about the two of them eating too fast and about their stomachs and intestines going bad.

Once finished, Bleu followed Ryu out of the house. This time, there wasn't anything to hold him back. He had his pack slung over his shoulder, as well as his sword, and he was quite ready to leave. As soon as they were outside the town, Bleu raised her staff to Warp them to Coursair. However, she felt an odd tingling as she did so. "Ryu, be carefu-Aaah!" her sentence was cut off as both were jerked upwards roughly. The two reappeared not far from Coursair.

"What was that?" asked Ryu in a tone that was forced calm.

"I...Don't know..." answered Bleu. "Some sort of interference...Look, Coursair isn't that far away now. Let's walk."

Ryu sighed, "Well...I suppose walking won't be hard..."

Minutes later, Ryu removed his sword from the tough hide of a Biruburu. "I've changed my mind. We should **not** have walked. Ah, well. At least we're almost there..." Then, Ryu stopped, feeling something. There was another presence close to them...He jumped, tackling Bleu and knocking her over.

"Ryu...What-?" Bleu was hushed by Ryu, who was looking at a man who had just appeared a few feet away from them. Ryu stood, brushing himself off a bit, and looked intently at the man. He didn't _look_ bad...But looks could always be decieving. _Better test him with the Dragon's Tear,_ thought Ryu. He focused his attention on the man – and felt something vibrating against his leg. He pulled out the Dragon's Tear. It was shaking, and the color was what it should never be: Black.

"You should put that away before it breaks," commented the man.

_That voice,_ thought Ryu. _Where have I heard it before?_ "Who are you?" he said aloud.

The man smiled. "Why, Destined Child...I am Thuren, Hunter of Souls."


End file.
